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A
MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCR'.TIC PARTY MFDP KEY LIST MAILING # 5, p.I*
507-2 North Farish Street, Jackson, Miss. Jan. 7, 196$
352-9312 352-9128
Health and Welfare report ~" c'ontinued.
I., think to 'deal with this, and other problems, we are bosk
going to need a State Welfare Committee. I am going to propose to this
meeting that we set up such a committee. I propose that we set
up welfare sub-committees in each county , and that these counties
elect two representatives.to the State sub Committee... ;.
One of the first jobs for county sub committees, I suggest,
would,be to find out how many people are on welfare. I thin$, too,
arthat very shortly we should hold a state-wide workshop. At this workshop
we should study the. overall welfare programs of the State, draw up our
own proposals...#call for greater, participation by Negroes in existing
programs- .-•■ '' ■''-.'
I would like to-suggest further that we look into Operation
Hmiixk HELP.... the.O.E.O.-grant'of |I$ millions to Mississippi, which
is, supposed to give jobs to about 1*50 poor people' on a county basis,
and j_cbs',to 16 poor people on a state-wide baxsis. .. . .
We know that some of the IJ milliobs will be with-held from
Mississippi if she doesen't,comply with Federal regulations. It is
our job to see exactly what the-State does... to see-what happens in
EACH oounty. In Bolivar oounty: they have already got a delegation which
.•is going, to visit the State Welfare office , and then .will gp.-to Washington D.C.
w . I think this proposed- State Welfare Committee, should be concerned
about the welfare of people who are being thrown off the land in Delta
They can get no relief, except the usual welfare payments., and you know
■-how low these are „ . In. some, cases they can get no' commodities. There
are two or three counties in the Delta which do not have a commodity
program.
Many people in the Delta - according to the information we
have -■ have, reached starvation level. I feel this should be brought to
the attention of■ the nation. I dcn'-t see how we can allow peopjheto go
hungry in a country, which boats of having alot to share.
■""■ flsv -■ ■ --' ' a - '■;-•■
. ,y .i ,,- Finally, I suggest that the FDP statrt a. family planning
*-i program. In Madison Co. we nave a planned, parenthood program. I suggest
- that this be extended all over the State, .... ■■ :.s .
- ""'' .-r-—a' " ■ a'.-.- ;" ' .-'.'..... . ■
NB„ When you have set up your county sub committee., on Welfare and Health
please let Mrs. Devine knew. Write to Mrs Devine , c/p FDP office,
.. .-Jackson, . •.:,- ■ ,_ .. ■
>■ ^ -■ -. | . •■ ...■,- v • a • .-■«■ -i.
..... ii m nejKW mh "<i myi.nii >|,it m w w it tc s it w m w » n w K k w xw w mj» MimwiinmimniMiiiimni
HERE ARE JnnOUNCEMENTS. OF SUB-COMMITTEE M'ETTNGS—Pleqse be^sure your, county send at least
one representative to any meeting called for your district—out eaph person.should only be
on one subcommittee.
Statewide: FINANCE SUBCf'IMITTEE—Sun., Jean. 30, 1 pm, Holmes Co. Community Center
in M-iL'eston.'- '(If-you can't'atterfd, Mr. Miles asks "that you send Jackson a report of how
much' your cbujrty is prepared-to seh'd to' the; Jackson Office each month.) '
First District: AGRICULTURE SUBCOMI'DZTTEE—Sat., Jan. 29, 10 "am-; "328 Cottrell St.:,:
West Point. Two representatives from each 1st District County are requested.
Fourth District: EDUCATION SUBCOMMITTEE—Sat., Feb. '5, 1pm, 513-25th Avenue,Meridian.
Fifth District: PERSONNEL' SUBCOMMITTEE—Sat'.,' Jan."23',' 2 pittj 507 Mobile St,Hattiesburg
ABOUT THIS MAILING — You were sent this mailing because we
are'hoping you-will spread thVInformation It contains to as fffhny people as possible.
If there is'no report from-your county, i't's because you didn't send us any. We are
''asking eaoh^coun'ty or town to send us a report each week: or two weeks, '^If you have a
newsletter, please, put us on.your mailing list. And please feel free to call us COLLECT
whenever you want any 'information or'have a*report. Call Collect to Jadkson, 352-9312 or
352-9128. Be sure'to ask for Jessie Magee or Barbara Brandt, and leave*'your name and
number in case we aren't in, so we can call you back later.. * '' '
Hoping to hear from you—
Freedoml
Tne FDP State Office

A description of the overall contents of the MFDP files in the Wisconsin Historical Society, including a short history of the MFDP, opens this folder. This particular MFDP folder deals largely with the MFDP's "Congressional Challenge": its efforts to prevent the seating of white segregationist Mississippi congressmen in 1965 on the grounds that they were elected unfairly as African Americans had been systematically prevented from voting in their elections. Other topics deal with the advent of the War on Poverty--many of whose programs were administered by segregationists to the detriment of the people for whom it was intended--and the increasingly desperate conditions of displaced Delta agricultural workers by 1966. The folder includes minutes from a statewide MFDP meeting held in May 1965 which call for a march in Jackson in support of the congressional challenge and to publicize the need for free elections. A variety of press releases about the basis for the congressional challenge, obstacles to the congressional challenge (including the Washington, D.C., arrest of 10 Mississippians who had come to speak with the Clerk of Court who had been stalling in the preparation of key documents), the next steps in the congressional challenge, and its ultimate defeat. There's a pamphlet on the congressional challenge put out by Californians for the Congressional Challenge. Repeated statements by Martin Luther King, James Farmer, John Lewis, and Lawrence Guyot--as well as state resolutions and a list of supporting organizations--favoring the congressional challenge. Assorted form letters on "what you can do to help the MFDP [in its congressional challenge]." A printed document, "A Message from Mississippi: Help Us Unseat 'Congressmen' We Never Voted For!" along with an article by George Slaff on the congressional challenge, which begins with a fascinating first-hand account of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission hearings on obstacles to voter registration in Panola County, Mississippi. Legal documents filed by African American congressional candidates who state that white Mississippi officials have not allowed their names to be placed on the ballot and ask that the municipal elections in Sunflower County for spring 1965 be postponed until fall 1965. Articles by Drew Pearson on Speaker of the House John McCormack's role in obstructing the congressional challenge, and on former Mississippi governor and white supremacist J. P. Coleman's appointment to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court by Lyndon Johnson. MFDP statements on Coleman's judicial appointment. A blank application form for summer 1965 MFDP workers. A press release about the summer 1965 student-based Washington Lobby organized to lobby for the congressional challenge. A press release about mass arrests and police brutality that took place in Jackson, Mississippi, during a June 14, 1965, demonstration, an MFDP newsletter about the same issue, a call for a mass meeting about the arrests, and conditions for detainees at the State Fairgrounds, and an announcement about a hunger strike among the protesters. John Perdew's "Mississippi Legislature: Old Wine in New Bottles" discusses the legislation passed during the 1965 special session of the Mississippi legislature. There's an MFDP statement clarifying its lack of an official position on the Vietnam War. Part of an article on "The Southern Freedom Movement" by Anne Braden in the Monthly Review. A press release about the Loyal Democrats of Mississippi and a list of their steering committee members. An August 8, 1965, document by Joseph Meissner and Steven Nelson called "The Mississippi Challenge: Some Questions and Answers." William Fitts Ryan's and the Medical Committee for Human Rights' statements in support of MFDP's congressional challenge. A statement from Edwin King encouraging MFDP members to go to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congressional representatives to support the challenge. Statements by Martin Luther King and by the National Council of Churches on rumors that Congress will dismiss the congressional challenge. A statement by members of various state bar associations in favor of the congressional challenge. An MFDP report on the defeat of its congressional challenge. A Congressional Record account of the defeat, with the roll call vote listed. Lawrence Guyot's statement on the defeat. Transcripts of Lawrence Guyot's remarks, made after the congressional challenge defeat, about the future of the MFDP in Mississippi, and of the MFDP's prospects of being seated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. Both Andrew Kopkind and Richard Rovere's magazine articles on the congressional challenge acknowledge the justification for the congressional challenge but criticize the MFDP's strategies and outlook. A late 1965 MFDP "Report from Mississippi" discusses voter registration since passage of the Voting Rights Bill (and the use of federal registrars in some counties as well as Mississippi's continued resistance to its provisions), plans for the 1966 elections, the white opposition to desegregation of public schools, and mass arrests of African Americans in Natchez. A 1965 MFDP document called "The Reapportionment of Mississippi." Handwritten excerpts from New York Times articles about MFDP elections in 1966. A January 1966 MFDP "key list." Meeting minutes from a January 1966 MFDP statewide convention. Annie Devine has a fundraising letter for the MFDP from the same period and reports on the beginnings of the food stamp program. There are several 1966 MFDP reports on continued violent incidents directed toward African Americans and MFDP's efforts to deal with growing poverty. There's the text of a telegram from Lawrence Guyot and other attendees at a Poor People's Conference to Lyndon Johnson, pointing out that poverty program funds are not reaching the people for whom they were intended, and begging for assistance. The text of the telegram the group got in response is also here. The demands made by unemployed, evicted persons taking up residence at an abandoned Air Force base in Greenville are here. New York Times articles describe widespread unemployment among agricultural workers due to mechanization, government subsidies to planters, increased use of chemical pest control, and planters' fears about a minimum wage for agricultural workers, as well as about the "Strike City" near Greenville. Victoria Gray has a concise description of the issues leading to poor people's occupation of the Air Force base. An MFDP newsletter points out that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has invalidated municipal elections in the town of Sunflower in 1966 because the registrar failed to abide by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and that the repressive former police chief of Indianola has been placed in charge of the new poverty programs to the detriment of poor African Americans. A letter from an African American man working in the distribution of food commodities points out many examples of racial discrimination in the program. A 1966 MFDP legal document asks for a stay of the June 1966 Democratic Party primary election based on charges that state officials have prevented African Americans from registering to vote.

Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.

A
MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCR'.TIC PARTY MFDP KEY LIST MAILING # 5, p.I*
507-2 North Farish Street, Jackson, Miss. Jan. 7, 196$
352-9312 352-9128
Health and Welfare report ~" c'ontinued.
I., think to 'deal with this, and other problems, we are bosk
going to need a State Welfare Committee. I am going to propose to this
meeting that we set up such a committee. I propose that we set
up welfare sub-committees in each county , and that these counties
elect two representatives.to the State sub Committee... ;.
One of the first jobs for county sub committees, I suggest,
would,be to find out how many people are on welfare. I thin$, too,
arthat very shortly we should hold a state-wide workshop. At this workshop
we should study the. overall welfare programs of the State, draw up our
own proposals...#call for greater, participation by Negroes in existing
programs- .-•■ '' ■''-.'
I would like to-suggest further that we look into Operation
Hmiixk HELP.... the.O.E.O.-grant'of |I$ millions to Mississippi, which
is, supposed to give jobs to about 1*50 poor people' on a county basis,
and j_cbs',to 16 poor people on a state-wide baxsis. .. . .
We know that some of the IJ milliobs will be with-held from
Mississippi if she doesen't,comply with Federal regulations. It is
our job to see exactly what the-State does... to see-what happens in
EACH oounty. In Bolivar oounty: they have already got a delegation which
.•is going, to visit the State Welfare office , and then .will gp.-to Washington D.C.
w . I think this proposed- State Welfare Committee, should be concerned
about the welfare of people who are being thrown off the land in Delta
They can get no relief, except the usual welfare payments., and you know
■-how low these are „ . In. some, cases they can get no' commodities. There
are two or three counties in the Delta which do not have a commodity
program.
Many people in the Delta - according to the information we
have -■ have, reached starvation level. I feel this should be brought to
the attention of■ the nation. I dcn'-t see how we can allow peopjheto go
hungry in a country, which boats of having alot to share.
■""■ flsv -■ ■ --' ' a - '■;-•■
. ,y .i ,,- Finally, I suggest that the FDP statrt a. family planning
*-i program. In Madison Co. we nave a planned, parenthood program. I suggest
- that this be extended all over the State, .... ■■ :.s .
- ""'' .-r-—a' " ■ a'.-.- ;" ' .-'.'..... . ■
NB„ When you have set up your county sub committee., on Welfare and Health
please let Mrs. Devine knew. Write to Mrs Devine , c/p FDP office,
.. .-Jackson, . •.:,- ■ ,_ .. ■
>■ ^ -■ -. | . •■ ...■,- v • a • .-■«■ -i.
..... ii m nejKW mh "|,it m w w it tc s it w m w » n w K k w xw w mj» MimwiinmimniMiiiimni
HERE ARE JnnOUNCEMENTS. OF SUB-COMMITTEE M'ETTNGS—Pleqse be^sure your, county send at least
one representative to any meeting called for your district—out eaph person.should only be
on one subcommittee.
Statewide: FINANCE SUBCf'IMITTEE—Sun., Jean. 30, 1 pm, Holmes Co. Community Center
in M-iL'eston.'- '(If-you can't'atterfd, Mr. Miles asks "that you send Jackson a report of how
much' your cbujrty is prepared-to seh'd to' the; Jackson Office each month.) '
First District: AGRICULTURE SUBCOMI'DZTTEE—Sat., Jan. 29, 10 "am-; "328 Cottrell St.:,:
West Point. Two representatives from each 1st District County are requested.
Fourth District: EDUCATION SUBCOMMITTEE—Sat., Feb. '5, 1pm, 513-25th Avenue,Meridian.
Fifth District: PERSONNEL' SUBCOMMITTEE—Sat'.,' Jan."23',' 2 pittj 507 Mobile St,Hattiesburg
ABOUT THIS MAILING — You were sent this mailing because we
are'hoping you-will spread thVInformation It contains to as fffhny people as possible.
If there is'no report from-your county, i't's because you didn't send us any. We are
''asking eaoh^coun'ty or town to send us a report each week: or two weeks, '^If you have a
newsletter, please, put us on.your mailing list. And please feel free to call us COLLECT
whenever you want any 'information or'have a*report. Call Collect to Jadkson, 352-9312 or
352-9128. Be sure'to ask for Jessie Magee or Barbara Brandt, and leave*'your name and
number in case we aren't in, so we can call you back later.. * '' '
Hoping to hear from you—
Freedoml
Tne FDP State Office

Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.